Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-04-01
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

Chemists are hard at work in the
French Antilles perfecting processes for
making alcohol from sweet potatoes.
Four gallons of alcohol can be made from
225 pounds of sweet potatoes.
A new extract of coal exists in certain
Russian bituminous coal to the extent of
eighteen per cent. 1t is a powerful anti
septic, and is claimed to be cheap and
remarkably effective tanning agent.
The fourth case of the successful re.
moval of tumor from the brain has been
reported in England the weight of the
tumor being four and half ounces.
These cases of brain surgery, with the
exact location from the symptoms of the
spot affected, are feats of which science
may we'll be proud.
In a study of pigs, the American consul
of Copenhagen has added thirty pounds
to the weight of some animals by having
them daily washed. Besides cleanliness,
easily masticated food gave some striking
results. When whole corn is fed them,
only half of it is available as food, the
other half passing away in an undigested
form.
Heavy machinery Is run by artesian-
well power in many parts of France, and
the experience of the French shows that
the deeper the well the greater the press
ure and the higher the temperature. At
Grenelle well sunk to the depth of /, S02
feet, and flowing daily 500, 900 gallons,
has pressure of sixty pounds to the
eouora lnob on1 +bo 1ro4or fror, chic 1uolI
is so hot that it is used for heating the
hospitals in the vicinity.
1t is found that when paraffine is thor
oughly mixed with linseed oil, cast into
small blocks, and cooled, it may be used
to make any fabric, as cloth, felt and
leather, waterproof, by rubbing it with
such block and ironing afterward to
equalize the distribution of the material
in the pores. If too much is not put on,
the material may be made to be only i'm
pervious to water, but not to the air, the
small, greasy particles simply repelling
water.
A recent visitor to a Mexican silver
mine relates that he was shown a mass of
mercury, weighing two pounds, taken
from the stomach of q horse that had
worked in the patio. He says: I'm this
primitive Mexican process, which seems
to be we'll suited to the wants of the
country, the ground ore, or silver mud,
is mixed with salt, mercury, etc. The
horses that tread this mud for weeks, in
order to mix the chemicals, attracted by
the salt, lick up the mud, and take in
the poisonous quicksilver. This, accu-
mulating in the system, finally kills them.
l was informed that the bones of these
animals are ground up, in order to OBJ
tain the mercury in them.
Ina trough sketch" of the present
knowledge OF earthquakes, Professor &.
H. Darwin says that the vibrations of Sc
we're shocks, even, are very short. One
of u quarter of an inch is sufficient to
shatter brick and stone chimneys. Data
indicate that the initial point of disturb
ance is, as a rule, near the surface of the
earth, ranging from one and half to
has been exceeded. Earthquakes occur
on steeply sloping shores of continents or
islands, and usually in winter, when the
changes in barometric pressure are great
est. The moon is thought to influence
them also. The weight of the air and of
the tides acts upon the situation as a
trigger upon gun. The internal heat
of the earth-easily appreciated on de-
scending a mine-is doubtless the moving
cause, and the gradual uneven shrinkage
of the surface its manifestation.